100% of all the money Pat raises
from services, book sales, readings (the money from the
sales of books, tickets, and artwork) funds the Creative-Incentive
Programs for Children series conducted by Lynne Wiercinski of
the Ironwood Carnegie Library and Arlene Schneller of the Schneller Art Gallery. Both women will be available at the
readings to answer questions about these programs. Feel free
to contact Arlene at Arschneller@gmail.com or Lynne at
Lynne@ironwoodcarnegie.org to learn more about the programs
and the readings.

Lynne Wiercinski

Arlene Schneller

Excerpts and
Reviews: Click on any book titles or the
above cover images to read
excerpts from the books and reviews of the books.

Every cent of your donation
and money you spend on books or tickets helps fund the
Creative-Incentive Programs that give children the rare
inspirational experiences and opportunities to be creative
that they crave and find so few of.

Babies
of Botany
begins and ends with death. In between, Patrick O'Neill
celebrates life with zest, a healthy dose of cynicism,
and a mission to debunk bias wherever he finds it. The
book reads more like a novel than a collection of
poems--each poem serves as a chapter that moves the story
forward. O'Neill peoples his book with familiar
characters: his sister, a botanist; young niece, an
animal activist with high ideals; elderly uncle, a
logger and philosopher. The poet punctures pretense
wherever he spots it, and he doesn't spare himself. The
only reason to put down this book would be to join
O'Neill or his characters for a beer in a north woods
bar.

Diane Montz

Join Pat O'Neill on a lush trek through anecdotes
of human and animal nature, a richly scented exploration
of familial life cycles whose gnarled paths entwine
birth to death and decay, sprouting new life and
re-birth. O'Neill's poems crack open dormant seeds of
wonder and why, refreshing the reader with branching,
inquisitive metaphors, stealthily invading our
root-bound, shallow, footings. You'll find no
artificial, placating answers here--just rough-hewn,
achingly honest bites of reality, piercing the canopy of
conventional habitat, allowing rivulets of free thought
to doggedly pour through, reviving the subdued, wild
truth that all of nature, human and otherwise, does not
thrive separately, but is grafted intimately as one.

As
always, all money from book sales goes to
creative-incentive programming for area children.

Lynn, Arlene, Pat, and especially the children thank you.
Focus on the photographs on this page. Become
involved. You've helped
generate what you can see and feel in the children and
Lynne, the
instructor--who have all been there.

A Story Bearing
Experience:

Also watch for details of Pat's next Story-Bearing Event
that will take place in conjunction with the book
release of
Nearly Naked in the
Fall 2017.
The event's not
about poetry
or fiction or any other type of writing. It's a release
of storiesfrom
vehicles with highfaluting identities and credentials--allowing
the
stories
to
muddle, ravish, amuse, confuse, challenge, etc. the minds of those who care to listen.

Bio: Writer
of many published books and countless published poems, stories, and plays,
Patrick O'Neill lives in Ironbwood in Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula,
where he teaches college writing, gives readings, and offers writing
services. As he has for years--and vows to continue to do as long as his
mind and body can keep pace with his galloping aspirations--he donates 100%
of all money from book, ticket, artwork sales, and services to a creative
program series for children, conducted by Lynne Wiercinski of the Ironwood
Carnegie Library and Arlene Schneller of Schneller Art Gallery

REVIEWS: from
publishers, editors, journalists, and audiences of his Story Bearing
Readings who have appraisedperiods of O'Neill's
published and unpublished work from 1990-2017:

Patrick O'Neill observes the details
and interactions of nature and human nature and, in his writing, shares his
unsparing insights. Like his well-written short stories, his best poems have
real people, conflicts, and revelations that delight the reader with
resolving surprise.
Diane Montz

In Patrick O'Neill's works, inner monologues
and outer dialogues fold into episodes-vignettes of everyday living. He
sprinkles his works with gentle treatments of the wisdom of animals, the
revelations of plants. His work is a veritable Kaleidoscope of highly
interesting slices of life. His empathic style touches the reader's
heart-felt spirits while his offbeat wit and subtle irony produce
provocative revelations. Tom Bruneau

Patrick O'Neill's verse with its wonderfully
"everyman"
characters brings so-called "common folks" to a literary immortality that
demands his inclusion in the pantheon of old and new great poets.
Del Reitz

ServicesI do readings and conduct creative writing (prose and poetry) and poetry
workshops. I've read at galleries, festivals, libraries and for book clubs,
writing associations, and other organizations and share my writing and my
writing experiences and insights with as many people as I can. I also serve as a consultant for serious writers of poetry and short fiction.

Fees: I like to get traveling expenses and what you decide my services are
worth. But I'll take whatever you can afford to donate.

Remember: 100% of all the money Pat raises from
services, book sales, readings (the money from the sales of
books, tickets, and artwork) funds creative-incentive
programs for area children conducted by Lynne Wiercinski of
the Ironwood Carnegie Library and Arlene Schneller of
Schneller Art Gallery. Both women will be available at the
readings to answer questions about these programs. Feel free
to contact Arlene at Arschneller@gmail.com or Lynne at
Lynne@ironwoodcarnegie.org to learn more about the programs
or the readings.